Ruined by the Bell
by emergencymauve
Summary: Two years after her 13 hours in the Labyrinth, Sarah convinces herself that it and all of its inhabitants were just a dream. However, on the first day of her junior year of high school, she realizes how wrong she is to believe that.
AN: So I was bored and this idea came into my mind and I decided to upload it onto here! I would really like for this to continue and actually finish it. I've never finished a story that I've written on here and I was looking back at old reviews on my other stories and realized how terrible it was that I dropped it. Please send encouragement my way as I attempt to write about this! Also, sorry about any grammatical or format errors that may be in this first chapter, I'm out of town and I ended up typing it up on my (cracked) IPhone's Notes app. I'll try and make time to edit and revise it once I get back. Anyhow, I hope you enjoy this yarn that I've began to spin for you!

Chapter 1:

Sarah dropped the brush she was caressing through her silky raven hair as she sat at her vanity. She dragged her slim fingers through it as well, testing to see if there were any tangles leftover. She just about tore a couple of strands out as she thought she saw her mirror ripple. Her brows furrowed together and she scowled at what her initial thought was.

'It wasn't real, it never happened Sarah. You were just upset about watching Toby one night and passed out and had a weird dream. No big deal.'

She shook her head and walked over to the sink in her bathroom,. She flipped the knob so cool water rushed out of the faucet. She then commenced splashing her face with the water, trying to rub the tiredness out of her eyes. Despite her attempts, she knew she didn't look aesthetically appealing like the models in acne commercials. But she didn't care because she hadn't been getting a lot of sleep as of late. Her mind was being plagued by things that weren't real, like dwarves, multiple types of red furry monsters, and fox knights. There was also... No, she wouldn't dare think about that. Not after she got so far convincing herself that it was all fake. Which it was.

She wiped her hands dry with the towel and let go of a held in yawn. It also didn't help that it was the morning of the first day of school, and nerves as well as excitement kept her up most of the night.

Instead of yawning this time she released a sigh of contentment as she observed her outfit for the day. It consisted of a striped t-shirt, three quarters length blue jean shorts finished off with a pair of white Nike Air Forces. She placed her hand on her hip and gave a confident smile to the mirror. Little did she know there was a pair of mismatched eyes staring at her from behind the surface, followed by a pointy smirk.

Sarah grabbed her bag and slung it over her shoulder as she opened the door and descended down the stairs. She passed by the kitchen where she spotted her father and Karen. It was about 6:40 in the morning, so the now three year old Toby was still tucked away in bed.

"Good morning, Sarah," stated Robert as he slurped some of his black coffee. "Are you ready for the first day of school?"

"Yeah, I think so," Sarah responded as she picked up an a fruit from the basket on the counter. She jumped and gained goosebumps when she recognized the fuzziness and texture of a peach.

'Wait a minute, Karen hasn't bought peaches for two years since I stopped eating them...'

She shoved the thought into one of the deepest corners of her mind, and made herself comfortable in the seat between Robert and Karen.

"I can't believe I'm already starting my junior year!" Sarah added.

"Honey, you look more beautiful and get smarter every day that passes," said Karen as she placed the newspaper that she was reading back on the table.

The statement from her stepmother tugged multiple of Sarah's heartstrings. Over the course of two years, after the bizarre dream, her relationship with her family improved immensely. No longer did she resent Karen for selfish and childish reasons. No longer did she cry out "it's not fair" when she had the duty of watching over her little brother from time to time. And she no longer blamed her father for her mother abandoning her family, and remarrying. She accepted that it was time to move on from that.

"Thanks so much Karen, that means a lot," Sarah replied, with liquid beginning to well up in her tear ducts. In response Karen just put her soft hand over her stepdaughter's.

"You have no idea how proud we are of you," she reassured. This just made Sarah's emotional dam weaken a little more. As much as she loved her family, she didn't like to appear weak in front of anybody. She felt as though her vulnerability gave others power over her.

As soon as it began, Sarah made her resolved and managed to halt the waterworks. She checked the watch on her wrist.

"Oh man, it's almost 7," Sarah realized. "I better get to the school."

"Do you want us to drive you to school, sweetheart?" asked Robert.

"No thanks, I'm just gonna walk."

Robert nodded his head, Sarah always liked to walk to school on the first day of the new year so she could have one last calm moment before the stress began. As if she wasn't stressed out enough already.

Sarah gave both on her father and stepmom a kiss on the cheek, and retrieved her apple as well as an egg and toast sandwich for the road. Opening the door while holding the apple between her teeth, she waved goodbye to her parents, who performed the action in return.

Sarah stepped onto the doorstep, and after opening the door, began her journey. She continued eating her breakfast as she walked, enjoying the orange, yellow, blue and purple painted across the sunrise. She became lost in her walk as her soul was enveloped by the sky. For some reason, it felt like the comfort was going to be one of the last she'd have in awhile. Strange.

Despite the new concern twisting her recently eaten breakfast, Sarah attempted to smile. Nothing too bad could go wrong, right? It was only the first day!

Sarah's thinking halted when she heard someone calling her name behind her. She looked back to recognize the dark brown hair and eyes, tan skin, and height of her best friend, Chase. He gave her a perfect pearly smile as well as a goofy little wave.

"What's popping Sarah?" Chase asked, putting an arm across her shoulders, moving her close. Sarah accepted the gesture out of companionship.

"Oh, not much. Just preparing to endings back into hell and purgatory for another year."

"My feelings exactly."

From there, the two walked in silence, just enjoying each other's company while they could. That was the nice thing about best friends, is that they knew when silence said more than actual words.

"Speaking of hell," puffed Chase, shattering the silence.

In front of the two stood their high school, whose estimated occupation of 800 students allowed the rapid flow of rumors. Everybody knew everybody in some way, and everybody knew it. And Sarah knew how much she hates that, especially when years before the stories of her famous mother and beau ran loose. She was immediately accused of being a brat and snot. Sure, she may have been for a period of time, but she changed around two years ago. Unfortunately the school didn't encourage the concept of forgiveness as much as gossip.

The moment the two stepped on the cement pathway of the school, the first bell rang. In response, Chase dropped his arm, knowing that they both needed to go to their separate lockers and check their schedules. Sarah gave him a sad smile as they walked through the doors, and they branched off into different hallways.

Sarah opened the orange envelope that held the secret of her schedule for the rest of the semester and year. As she observed it, she didn't find anything too interesting as she knew exactly which courses she was taking. However, she saw a teacher's name that she hadn't recognized before. Listed next to her English class was just a letter "J". No last name or anything. She assumed he must've been new. She wouldn't have to worry about that until the end of the day though, as he was her last period.

Sarah held her breath as almost all of her classes played get-to-know you games for the whole entire period. It wasn't as though everybody didn't know each other already. Except the mysterious new "J" teacher. The desire to rid of the suspense regarding him or her was Sarah's main motivation to make it through the day.

She received her first pieces of evidence for her investigation as she ate lunch with Chase.

"So, have you heard about that new teacher dude yet?" Chase asked as he munched on a bag of potato chips.

'So, he's a guy...'

"No, I actually haven't."

"Really now? Pretty much all of the girls are swooning over him in the hallways."

'Now he must be good looking and charming, but who knows when it comes to the standards of the girls at this school."

"That's weird that I haven't heard anything until now," Sarah said. "But I guess I'll figure out more at the end of the day, he's my last class of the day."

"Me too!" Chase exclaimed, his chocolate eyes lighting up.

"This is so exciting, we'll have to sit next to each other!"

"You bet!"

The rest of the day went just as slow as the first half as it also fully consisted of get to know you games.

But then things got interesting as she was on her way to last period.

Sarah had forgotten her empty binder for English in her locker, but when she tried to open it, it was jammed. There was no way she was inputting the combination wrong as she had that same locker for all of high school. What was odd was that she could swear she could hear rummaging within it.

"Dammit, I need to get to class! I can't be late!" Sarah moaned, and she hit the locker with her palm.

Almost magically, the door flew open and granted her access to her much needed folder. She would've questioned the science of what had just occurred, except Sarah had to get to class. She checked her watch.

'Shit! I only have one minute left, and this is at least a two minute trip!'

Sarah broke into a speed-walk as she raced against time. It felt somewhat familiar.

Before she knew it, the door of her designated classroom was in sight. She added a bit more pop to her step as she knew she didn't even have 20 seconds to make it through the doorway. And there wasn't any way that she was going to be marked tardy on the first day of school.

She was now close enough to the door that she could see the whites of the other students' eyes, and the seat that Chase saved for her at the front of the room. However, not a teacher was in sight.

Right before she crossed into the room, Sarah had bursted into a sprint. Literally the second she made it through the door, the bell rang. She let out a puff of relief as she reached her new safe haven. But Sarah didn't have enough time to change her speed as she collided with a pencil (that appeared out of the blue right as she entered) residing on the title floor.

The world began to fall down as the folder Sarah worked so hard to retrieve was flung into the air, and the book bag strapped to her back increased her gravitational energy. She crossed her hands over her face as she plummeted to the ground. Sarah made a landing, but it was one she wasn't expecting. Where she ended up face planting was built and strong like the floor, but it was also warm. She was also sure that the floor couldn't wrap around her body.

When she opened her eyes, she found herself staring into a silk like dress shirt with her hands on the accompanying chest. Sarah was about to sputter a clumsy "thank you" when she looked looked up at the face of the owner of such chest. What she saw made everything remotely logical that she had learned within her lifetime crumble into dust within seconds. Her forest green yet fiery eyes made direct contact with one pure icy blue one paired with a brown one that resulted from what appeared to be a larger pupil.

Sarah's breathing began to hitch, and the adrenaline began coursing throughout her whole entire eyes. She knew those eyes, and no matter what she used to hide and run from it, she knew who owned those unique orbs.

The situation worsened more when she looked down and saw lips. She also knew those lips, which in that moment his a Cheshire cat smirk. Her own lips formed a gapping motion, but closed when she realized there was no possible way to get any oxygen into her body at the moment.

Without warning, those lips that she knew moved accordingly with its corresponding face, brushing her earlobe.

"Careful there precious thing," the man didn't just say, but purred. "I wouldn't want to see you broken so soon, especially if it didn't directly involve me."

Sarah knew that voice with its deep tone and its seductive charm resonating from its rich British accent.

In that moment Sarah knew. She knew that she was right all along, and that a phantom of the past was back to haunt her. The question of why made her breakfast and lunch climb up her throat in the form of vile. She was going to be sick.

AN: Yeah, I'm that one person to annoy you with a cliffhanger. Now you're just gonna have to wait and see what happens next! And oh the possibilities!


End file.
